The invention relates to a hand-held label printing and applying apparatus, by which self-adhering labels are successively printed and applied to merchandise. The apparatus comprises a metal housing which, seen from the side, is substantially in the form of a rectangle, trapezium or parallelogram and is provided with a handle, the side walls of said housing, advantageously consisting of sheet steel and held in spaced relation, having arranged between them a printing unit. a withdrawal device for a carrier strip feeding the labels, a deflecting device for the carrier strip and a pressure-applying device for the label which is in the dispensing position and which is at least partially detached from the carrier strip.
Apparatus of this type are, for example, known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,553.
The disadvantage which exists with the known hand-held labelling apparatus is that the housing of the appliance is provided with a handle and has to satisfy several different standards of technical, economic and aesthetic type, the common fulfillment of which is not to be achieved or only at great expense. The housing is to be strong and dimensionally rigid, so as to protect the devices fitted into the housing against damage and to enable a precise accommodation, fixing or mounting of these parts in the housing. The housing is to be light, so that the weight of the appliance is kept low. The side walls of the housing, advantageously consisting of steel plates, are to be formed with openings for receiving spacer pins, pivot shafts for a handle, a rocking inking mechanism or the like and pivots, for example, for the mounting of a winding drum from which the carrier strip is unwound and a freely rotatable pressure-applying roller for rolling on the respectively dispensed label. For reasons of expense, the side walls of the housing are to be produced as far as possible by simple stamping. The outside of the apparatus is to be of pleasing appearance, have no sharp edges and have a smoothest possible surface, so that the apparatus can be kept clean.